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Jewish World Review July 1, 2011 / 29 Sivan, 5771 Corporate Jets and Tax Breaks By Jonah Goldberg
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | President Obama's core message in his Wednesday press conference, his first since March, could be found in his advice to Republicans. "You go talk to your constituents and ask them, 'Are you willing to compromise your kids' safety so some corporate-jet owner can get a tax break?'" This was just one of six shots the president took at corporate-jet owners. A novice might be forgiven for thinking that the president really doesn't like corporate jets or that the Republicans cared so much about the darn things that they had proposed crossing out "arms" in the Second Amendment and replacing it with "corporate jets." Where's A novice might also think that tax status of corporate jets is of disproportionate significance in how to move this country toward a balanced budget. But the novice would be wrong. For starters, Obama's most recent budget calls for adding Sadly, the room was full of journalists who do not consider themselves novices but who nonetheless let Obama get away with this demagogic dishonesty. No one asked the president why he suddenly cares so much about getting rid of a tax break he himself was for before he was against it. Indeed, no one asked why, if it is such an affront to the liberal conscience, it was part of Obama's stimulus bill, which was passed without any Republican votes in the House and only three in the More broadly, no one threw a flag on his claim that "every single observer who's not an elected official, who's not a politician," agrees with him on the burning need to raise taxes as part of any budget deal. This is a good example of Obama's most grating tic, his need to claim that all reasonable and serious people agree with him and anyone who disagrees must be doing so for base or ideological motives. No one queried why he talks about the need to raise taxes on "millionaires and billionaires" but the fine print of his proposals defines millionaires and billionaires as people who make This points to what is most offensive about Obama's focus-grouped class warfare rhetoric: the total incoherence of the underlying policies. The day before his press conference, Obama was in "The idea is to create jobs now, and to make sure America stays on the cutting edge of manufacturing for years to come," Obama declared. The factory Obama visited, however, isn't a generic aluminum plant. It is, according to That includes the general aviation industry, which is centered in To be fair, The point isn't that there's no merit to any of Obama's positions (personally, I'm all for clearing the junk out of the tax code). The point is that at this point merit simply has nothing to do with the positions Obama takes.
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